PI scoop ... Two weeks for Cardoza to ink deal - Political stars come out at Republican convention for notable influencer - Attack of the equine super PACs - Cardin to hit links in Charlotte

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PI SCOOP… TWO WEEKS FOR CARDOZA TO INK DEAL: Anna has the scoop on Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.) informing the House Ethics Committee two weeks ago that he was prepping to leave Capitol Hill to join a law firm that lobbies his colleagues. Click here for the full scoop: http://politi.co/PkJwNK

Cardoza has joined the firm of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips as a managing director in its government affairs and public policy practice. Cardoza, a former co-chair of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition, told the Sacramento Bee on Tuesday that he blamed other factors for his quitting Congress before his term is up.

“In light of the fact that nothing is going to happen for the rest of the year, and in light of the fact that [my wife] and I are facing increasing parenting challenges, this seemed the right time to make this move,” Cardoza said. http://bit.ly/QyxpK4

“A lot of firms were recruiting Dennis, so we are doubly thrilled he will call Manatt home,” said James Bonham, chair of the firm’s federal government affairs and public policy group.

Cardoza will be based in Washington, D.C., and will advise clients facing issues in both California and Washington.

POLITICAL STARS COME OUT AT REPUBLICAN CONVENTION FOR NOTABLE INFLUENCER: Law and lobbying firm Foley & Lardner is gearing up to fete one of its partners, Cleta Mitchell, with a political star-studded event during the Republican National Convention.

Among politicians scheduled to speak or appear at the event, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 28 at the firm’s Tampa, Fla., office: Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum. Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association; Al Cardenas, chairman of the American Conservative Union and Newsmax Publisher Chris Ruddy, are also slated to attend.

Mitchell’s practice, according to her bio, focuses on advising “corporations, nonprofit and issue organizations, candidates, campaigns, and individuals on state and federal campaign finance law, election law, and compliance issues related to lobbying, ethics and financial disclosure. She has also in the past lobbied for various clients including the Heritage Foundation, Educational Testing Service and Alliance for Charitable Reform, federal records show. See the invitation: http://bit.ly/MZZxL5

ATTACK OF THE EQUINE SUPER PACS! A coalition of anti-horse-slaughter advocates has just registered another 25 federal super PACs, each bearing the name of a different state, such as the Arkansas Horse Association, Maryland Horse Association and Florida Horse Association. This comes following the registration earlier this month of seven other state-focused, anti-slaughter super PACs. Texan Julie Caramante serves as treasurer for them all, federal records show.

Jon Ryan Parker, a consultant working with horse advocates, told PI that they simply wanted to create super PACs for every state instead of just one, overarching super PAC. “The main goal of the groups is issue advocacy — they just want to get the message out to the public,” Parker said. Super PACs may raise and spend unlimited amounts of money, so from a practical standpoint, there’s no accounting advantage to having one super PAC or 50.

CARDIN TO HIT LINKS IN CHARLOTTE: Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) is hosting a golf event at 7:30 a.m. Sept. 4 at TPC Piper Glen in Charlotte, N.C., during the Democratic National Convention. Cost to attend: $1,500 per golfer. See the invitation here: http://bit.ly/NmqPHb

A good ides of August to you on this Wednesday afternoon, as 43 years ago today, the most notable rock festival in the multiverse — Woodstock — kicked off in a field in upstate New York. Among the performers were British rockers The Who, whose set included “My Generation” — a.k.a. “That Song the Old Dudes With Guitars Played This Past Sunday During the Summer Games’ Closing Ceremonies.”

Thanks for reading, have a great day, and now, back to the day’s top influence industry news …

MILITARY GROUPS LAUNCH ANTI-DOMA LETTER-WRITING CAMPAIGN: The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and OutServe have begun a letter-writing campaign to highlight the effects of the Defense of Marriage Act on the lives of gay and lesbian service members. The campaign, “Stories From Home: Letters From Military Families to Congress,” features first-hand stories of service members and their families. “Stories like these underscore the inequalities forced upon gay and lesbian military families by these unjust laws… We cannot have two classes of families in the military,” SLDN Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis said.

COMMUNITY BANKERS PICK UP ONE: The Independent Community Bankers of America announced that Andrea Bona has joined the group as vice president of marketing. Previously, Bona was the founder and managing partner of One Orange Feather Inc., a marketing and management consulting firm, focusing on the association marketplace that she started in 2009. She also previously served as the vice president of strategic marketing for the Mortgage Bankers Association in D.C.

EDISON TAPS FORMER DCCC SPOKESMAN AS COMM DIRECTOR: The Edison Electric Institute publicly announced today that it’s bringing Ryan Rudominer on as executive director of communications. Rudominer comes to EEI from New Partners Consulting, where he did strategic messaging, branding, and provided tactical advice to his clients. He previously served as a communications director on Capitol Hill for various members of Congress. During the 2008 and 2010 election cycles, he was a regional, and then national press secretary at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, where he worked with EEI Senior Vice President Brian Wolff.

NEW LEADERSHIP PAC FOR CASTRO: Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) has created a new leadership PAC he’s calling Toward Tomorrow PAC, federal records show. Congressmen may use leadership PACs to raise money separate and apart from their campaign committees for purposes that include travel, touting ideology and making donations to political brethren.

TEXAS, NEVADA, CALIFORNIA LEAD AMONG SUPER PAC SUPER STATES: A data analysis out today by California-based nonprofit campaign finance watchdog MapLight indicates that people from Texas, Nevada, California, the District of Columbia and New York have so far given the most money to super PACs. For Texas and Nevada, their leading roles can be attributed to the super-sized contributions of just a couple of people, namely Sheldon Adelson and Harold Simmons. Read the full report here: http://bit.ly/N05M1D

CAMPAIGN FINANCE FIREWORKS FOR TIM BISHOP: Toss together a Bar Mitzvah, some fireworks, a few needed permits and a helpful congressman running for re-election and you have yourself a pretty fine campaign finance blow-up for Rep. Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.). Our John Bresnahan with the scoop: http://politi.co/QBVFel

FREE MEDIA STILL RULES: The most controversial political advertisement of the summer is one you won’t even see on television. Our Robin Bravender has the details: http://politi.co/PcVKc3

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Send to a friendPI scoop ... Two weeks for Cardoza to ink deal - Political stars come out at Republican convention for notable influencer - Attack of the equine super PACs - Cardin to hit links in Charlotte